PVAT as a vasoactive adipose depot: chemerin as a vasocontrictor

This is one of our discoveries that changes how we think about the function of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT, adipose tissue surrounding blood vessels). First, we discovered the expression of the adipokine chemerin in PVAT (a), and were the first to show this substance which is elevated in obesity causes vasoconstriction. We have recently made a chemerin KO rat using Crispr Cas technology that allowed us to knockdown this adipokine. Important findings include the ability of chemerin to ‘tweak’ the sympathetic nervous system that innervates blood vessels (c), and the signaling of the chemerin receptor in the vasculature (b).